FLAGSTAFF -- The Arizona Board of Regents gave ASU and UA its blessing on Friday to make preliminary plans for a joint medical school in downtown Phoenix.
The regents unanimously approved the rival school's "Memorandum of Understanding," a pact between ASU and UA. The memorandum assigns each university big roles in conducting biomedical research at the facility. UA will take the lead in developing the Phoenix Biomedical Campus, but agreed to involve ASU in the planning process.
ASU is a big winner in this plan, President Michael Crow said.
"We have access to a medical school without building a medical school," Crow said. "We're in the perfect position."
Crow said ASU's planned Bioinformatics program -- applying computer science and statistics to the biomedical sciences -- and UA's longtime experience with running its own medical school in Tucson would make the two schools invaluable to each other.
ASU and UA must move beyond their historical rivalry to build the medical school, the memorandum said.
The project will begin with building the curricular framework for the school, regent President Gary Stuart said. Faculty appointment and funding would follow.
UA President Peter Likins said the proposal is unique because UA will welcome other universities and other departments to its medical school facilities. The Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Institute may also participate in the research, Likins said.
"The Phoenix Biomedical Campus ... is a place. It's a body of land we will develop jointly," Likins said. "It's a very cost-effective way to advance this agenda in the state of Arizona."
Likins said UA would benefit by having a steady and well-defined role in Phoenix, where many of its medical students participate in hospital residency programs.
"The University College of Medicine has always had a presence in Phoenix, but it has been a presence with an uncertain future," Likins said.
Crow said he was committed to advancing the project.
"We have to rise above whatever institutional family or politics issues that may exist and focus on quality of life," Crow said to the regents.
The development is "historic," said Dave Harris, senior manager for the Arizona Biomedical Collaborative, a tri-university biomedical research initiative.
Harris is heavily involved in the site planning for the medical school and said that the new school would be located near ASU's downtown campus and about two-and-a-half blocks from a planned light rail line.
The new facilities must be located far enough away from the light rail line to keep vibrations from affecting sensitive research instruments. Harris said there would be enormous benefits for the region.
"This is the most significant economic impact in the history of the City of Phoenix," Harris said.
Reach the reporter at nicole.saidi@asu.edu.
